Refinish?

[CoyoteJoe]

My Franz Kettner staling rifle is in very good condition overall. The wood shows the dents and scratches that are unavoidable to a hunting rifle. There is one irritating thing I would like to eliminate, the name "Mersmann Beckum" has been scratched into the wood of the cheekpiece. I'm considering sanding it out and refinishing the raised cheekpeice only. I realize it will be difficult to perfectly match the surrounding wood finish but I have had some experience in working with gunstocks and think I can come pretty close. Is it worth the effort or would I be compounding the damage by trying to fix it?

[Dan Patch]

A quick google search turned up the fact that there are quite a few people surnamed Mersmann living in Beckum, Germany. If there is any possibility that the name scratched on the cheekpiece has been there a good while I'd be inclined to leave it alone and regard it as a hint of some early history of this arm you don't yet know. Others will, of course, feel differently. Dan

[fuhrmann]

Not a usual thing to scratch one's name into the cheekpiece...
My guess is this is a WWII bringback and Mr. Mersmann put his name on the rifle before he submitted it to a big pile, in the hope of getting it back some day.
fuhrmann

[sharps4590]

As with Dan I'm nearly always inclined to leave such pieces as they are. As Dan opined it's part of the history of the old rifle and I always wonder the whys and wherefores of old scratchings. The firearms are mine for now but they're all going to outlast me so "making them mine" isn't very important to me. Seems to me I'm depriving some future owner of history bits if I fix everything. But, I'm sentimental that way.

[mike ford]

coyotejoe,
I agree with the others, but the rifle is not ours, you have to do what you think is best, for you.
Mike

[CoyoteJoe]

Well I probably will sand it, it just annoys me.

[sharps4590]

It's your stalking rifle. Those guys who are really good at stock work always seem to be able to match an existing stain color and/or finish. I'd think with enough care you can do it. If not you'll have an off colored spot on the cheek piece.